We had mentioned yesterday that only three cruise ships stop at Saipan each year. We wanted to add that they do rely heavily on tourism and that the majority of visitors come to Saipan from Japan, China and Russia.
We are glad that we had the opportunity to visit Saipan and between our visit, and all of the lectures that we saw on board the Serenity, all of this provided provides us with a very solid foundation as to what took place on that Island during the WWII Battle. As we say, all of this is about discovery.
While today the island is very lush with all of the vegetation that was not the case during WCII when a good portion of the island was quite barren.
Before dinner last evening, we sat at the Crystal Cove for about thirty minutes with John and Linda. John and Linda had taken the shuttle into town and spoke about that and we shared some of what we saw on the shuttle.
After that it was off to Silk Road. It was the first time since we boarded the ship that it was just the two of us at Silk Road. We love to dine with others but for us it is still very special to dine alone as well.
We were seated at a nice table in a quiet section of the restaurant. They stagger the reservations and by around an hour into dinner quite a few of the tables were in use with some guests arriving about every 15 minutes. Many of the people who had boarded the ship in Guam were dining there.
We had a wonderful time.
Albert, our waiter, pre-ordered several items for us so we didn't even look at the sushi/sashimi menu nor the regular menu until we'll into the meal. These photos show items that Albert pre-ordered for us.
We wish we knew all of the names of these items but we don't. This first one was a new one for us and this is Spinach.
A lettuce wrap that you eat with your hands and the assistant waiter brought out a hot towel for each of us to use afterward.
This was another one that was new to us. It includes an egg.
We also had one other course which was a trio of Nobu Sashimi Specials.
After all of that we then ordered the remainder of our meal. Keith selected sushi and sashimi which is shown below.
We also each had Hot Sobu Noodles which come with a soup broth and we had added to that scallops.
What a wonderful meal. The food was just absolutely wonderful and as usual we enjoyed the lovely ambience of the Silk Road restaurant and the absolutely find service from Albert and his assistant waiter. Head Waiter Sigi stopped by a few times to check on us and Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' also stopped by a couple of times.
The evening featured show was performed by Bob Barno who mixes comedy with the art of pickpockets. While he makes the audience laugh we are reminded how disruptive it can be when someone has a valuable stolen. These days as in the past one needs to be what we like to say is street smart. In many places, we are very careful what we walk around with off the ship. We wear relatively inexpensive jewelry off the ship and in some ports Anne Marie wears absolutely no jewelry and we limit what we take off the ship in terms of money/credit cards. While in many ports Keith does take a nice Nikon DSLR camera off the ship in some ports he might take just a small point and shoot camera if crime is an issue. We also have to remember as tourists we are more prone to crime and we have to be careful where we walk. Certain items are now becoming major targets for crime and that includes iPads and iPhones and this crime is taking places around the world and that includes our own home country.
When we arrived back to the room, we learned from the daily program which was sitting in our room when we arrived back to dinner that there could be some disruption to the Internet Service while we are in Japan between February 7 and February 15. Often the Japanese Government limits what type of transmission the ship may use while in their waters and often they do not provide what can and cannot be used until the last minute. We will see what happens this time around.
We slept very well last evening as we normally do on the ship.
Keith was up early today. We are now "Out To Sea" and will be at sea for today and tomorrow until we arrive at our next port of call.
He began his day in the Fitness Center. Had to burn off those calories from last night's dinner. LOL. After enjoying a workout on the Elliptical Machine he did some reading and writing until the Lido Cafe opened. He stopped by the Cafe for some coffee.
Keith spoke with Lido Deck Stewards Ross, Liebert, Max, Jun and Benjamin.
Benjamin and Jun setting up the outside area of the Lido Cafe for Breakfast.
Afterwards, he brought coffee back to the room for Anne Marie before she walked for an hour on her daily morning walk. She tried walking outside but it was much too windy so she walked inside the ship.
We both enjoyed breakfast in our room as we watched the Daily Morning Show with Cruise Director Rick and World Cruise Hostess Stacey.
Keith then went off for a Spin Class. We had the same three guests taking Spin today and Fitness Instructor Michael taught the class. Tomorrow we are all going to get together on our own. Today's class used the more challenging program so Keith and his fellow spinners worked very hard.
After class Keith met Anne Marie at the Crystal Cove. World Cruise Hostess Stacey was available today for anyone who wanted to chat with her in the Cove and while we were down there we stopped by to chat with her for awhile. It's always great to catch up with Stacey and we enjoyed lots of laughs.
Shortly after the class, and after he freshened up, Keith went to the Salon for his second haircut of the cruise. Once again, stylist Darko cut Keith's hair. At the same time, Anne Marie continued her knitting with other guest who are also working on the various knitting projects.
Since today was a sea day it was Team Trivia Day which is always an opportunity to see how much you know while at the same time seeing how much you do not know or used to know but no longer remember. Keith represented the two of us and the Team got 14 or 15 questions and we are now 1/2 point behind the leading team. One of today's questions was what was the first name of the character that Harrison Ford played in Indiana Jones?
As we do most days for lunch we enjoyed a nice salad entree. We decided to have lunch in our room.
One of the features for today was the Grand Gala Buffet which includes an array of delicious items to enjoy. We passed on this one but it was very popular with many of the guests. Sorry we didn't get any photos this time around but we will the next time it is offered.
We caught the two morning lectures on their rebroadcasts. The first one was given by Destination Lectures Ken Rees who spoke about Okinawa which is our next port of call. He spoke about the story of the epic battle for Okinawa and he spoke about the Island's very long history. He also covered some highlights from our visit to Saipan. Guest Celebrity Speaker, actor Bruce McGill, spoke about stories from the set and shared lots of interesting stories from many of the movie and other related projects he has worked on during his career.
The afternoon brought Yoga for Anne Marie and another walk. Keith did get together with good friend Bob and then watched the two morning lectures.
This evening we will be dining with two other couples in Prego. Friend Jim and Judy who we first met in the Laundry Room (that is a great place for getting to know people) during the 2007 World Cruise organized the dinner. We will post all about this tomorrow.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……….
We are glad that we had the opportunity to visit Saipan and between our visit, and all of the lectures that we saw on board the Serenity, all of this provided provides us with a very solid foundation as to what took place on that Island during the WWII Battle. As we say, all of this is about discovery.
While today the island is very lush with all of the vegetation that was not the case during WCII when a good portion of the island was quite barren.
Before dinner last evening, we sat at the Crystal Cove for about thirty minutes with John and Linda. John and Linda had taken the shuttle into town and spoke about that and we shared some of what we saw on the shuttle.
After that it was off to Silk Road. It was the first time since we boarded the ship that it was just the two of us at Silk Road. We love to dine with others but for us it is still very special to dine alone as well.
We were seated at a nice table in a quiet section of the restaurant. They stagger the reservations and by around an hour into dinner quite a few of the tables were in use with some guests arriving about every 15 minutes. Many of the people who had boarded the ship in Guam were dining there.
We had a wonderful time.
Albert, our waiter, pre-ordered several items for us so we didn't even look at the sushi/sashimi menu nor the regular menu until we'll into the meal. These photos show items that Albert pre-ordered for us.
We wish we knew all of the names of these items but we don't. This first one was a new one for us and this is Spinach.
A lettuce wrap that you eat with your hands and the assistant waiter brought out a hot towel for each of us to use afterward.
This was another one that was new to us. It includes an egg.
We also had one other course which was a trio of Nobu Sashimi Specials.
After all of that we then ordered the remainder of our meal. Keith selected sushi and sashimi which is shown below.
We also each had Hot Sobu Noodles which come with a soup broth and we had added to that scallops.
What a wonderful meal. The food was just absolutely wonderful and as usual we enjoyed the lovely ambience of the Silk Road restaurant and the absolutely find service from Albert and his assistant waiter. Head Waiter Sigi stopped by a few times to check on us and Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' also stopped by a couple of times.
The evening featured show was performed by Bob Barno who mixes comedy with the art of pickpockets. While he makes the audience laugh we are reminded how disruptive it can be when someone has a valuable stolen. These days as in the past one needs to be what we like to say is street smart. In many places, we are very careful what we walk around with off the ship. We wear relatively inexpensive jewelry off the ship and in some ports Anne Marie wears absolutely no jewelry and we limit what we take off the ship in terms of money/credit cards. While in many ports Keith does take a nice Nikon DSLR camera off the ship in some ports he might take just a small point and shoot camera if crime is an issue. We also have to remember as tourists we are more prone to crime and we have to be careful where we walk. Certain items are now becoming major targets for crime and that includes iPads and iPhones and this crime is taking places around the world and that includes our own home country.
When we arrived back to the room, we learned from the daily program which was sitting in our room when we arrived back to dinner that there could be some disruption to the Internet Service while we are in Japan between February 7 and February 15. Often the Japanese Government limits what type of transmission the ship may use while in their waters and often they do not provide what can and cannot be used until the last minute. We will see what happens this time around.
We slept very well last evening as we normally do on the ship.
Keith was up early today. We are now "Out To Sea" and will be at sea for today and tomorrow until we arrive at our next port of call.
He began his day in the Fitness Center. Had to burn off those calories from last night's dinner. LOL. After enjoying a workout on the Elliptical Machine he did some reading and writing until the Lido Cafe opened. He stopped by the Cafe for some coffee.
Keith spoke with Lido Deck Stewards Ross, Liebert, Max, Jun and Benjamin.
Benjamin and Jun setting up the outside area of the Lido Cafe for Breakfast.
Afterwards, he brought coffee back to the room for Anne Marie before she walked for an hour on her daily morning walk. She tried walking outside but it was much too windy so she walked inside the ship.
We both enjoyed breakfast in our room as we watched the Daily Morning Show with Cruise Director Rick and World Cruise Hostess Stacey.
Keith then went off for a Spin Class. We had the same three guests taking Spin today and Fitness Instructor Michael taught the class. Tomorrow we are all going to get together on our own. Today's class used the more challenging program so Keith and his fellow spinners worked very hard.
After class Keith met Anne Marie at the Crystal Cove. World Cruise Hostess Stacey was available today for anyone who wanted to chat with her in the Cove and while we were down there we stopped by to chat with her for awhile. It's always great to catch up with Stacey and we enjoyed lots of laughs.
Shortly after the class, and after he freshened up, Keith went to the Salon for his second haircut of the cruise. Once again, stylist Darko cut Keith's hair. At the same time, Anne Marie continued her knitting with other guest who are also working on the various knitting projects.
Since today was a sea day it was Team Trivia Day which is always an opportunity to see how much you know while at the same time seeing how much you do not know or used to know but no longer remember. Keith represented the two of us and the Team got 14 or 15 questions and we are now 1/2 point behind the leading team. One of today's questions was what was the first name of the character that Harrison Ford played in Indiana Jones?
As we do most days for lunch we enjoyed a nice salad entree. We decided to have lunch in our room.
One of the features for today was the Grand Gala Buffet which includes an array of delicious items to enjoy. We passed on this one but it was very popular with many of the guests. Sorry we didn't get any photos this time around but we will the next time it is offered.
We caught the two morning lectures on their rebroadcasts. The first one was given by Destination Lectures Ken Rees who spoke about Okinawa which is our next port of call. He spoke about the story of the epic battle for Okinawa and he spoke about the Island's very long history. He also covered some highlights from our visit to Saipan. Guest Celebrity Speaker, actor Bruce McGill, spoke about stories from the set and shared lots of interesting stories from many of the movie and other related projects he has worked on during his career.
The afternoon brought Yoga for Anne Marie and another walk. Keith did get together with good friend Bob and then watched the two morning lectures.
This evening we will be dining with two other couples in Prego. Friend Jim and Judy who we first met in the Laundry Room (that is a great place for getting to know people) during the 2007 World Cruise organized the dinner. We will post all about this tomorrow.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……….
"Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands." - Anne Frank
Keith & Anne Marie
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